On her Back in the Stacks blog, Cataloging Specialist Jan Hardy reviews a trio of books about "man's best friend."
Describing the bond between people and their dogs could fill an entire library; my three favorite books involve a combination of scientific observation and simple affection. In Dogs Never Lie About Love: Reflections on the Emotional World of Dogs, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson observes dogs in general and his own pack of three specifically – how they enjoy each other, and him, and live enthusiastically in the moment. Dogs, he says, “do not have to hide their joie de vivre for fear of appearing naïve, and they do not need to feign boredom when they are in fact interested for fear of appearing unsophisticated.”
Dogs love us unconditionally; they follow us from room to room, Masson theorizes, “just because they like to be near us.” He explores how dogs play, why they wag their tails, why they bark, how they use each of their senses, and adds “It may well be that dogs possess senses and abilities that we completely ignore … Dogs are still mysterious creatures in spite of more than ten thousand years of companionship with humans.”
Read more on the Back in the Stacks blog.